Clinton said to clinch nomination, but won’t cry victory

LOS ANGELES: Hillary Clinton captured the Democratic White House nomination hours before Tuesday’s (Wednesday in Manila) last major primaries of 2016, according to US delegate counts, taking a monumental step toward becoming America’s first female commander-in-chief. Passing the milestone of 2,383 delegates secures Clinton’s status as the presumptive nominee, and marks a dramatic political resurgence for a highly experienced but controversial candidate who lost to Barack Obama in their 2008 battle to be the Democratic standard-bearer. This time the 68-year-old former secretary of state survived an extraordinarily strong grassroots campaign by her party rival Bernie Sanders and is set to go head-to-head with Republican real estate tycoon Donald Trump in an unprecedented showdown for the White House. But Sanders was not ready to capitulate, insisting the Democratic nominee will not be chosen until delegates vote at the party’s national convention in late July. And while her campaign acknowledged as “an important milestone” the US network tallies that pushed her beyond the magic number, Clinton said the Democratic race was not yet over.